The problem is, it very much involves the Klingons...at least in the battle scenes.

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Well, yes, but you don't actually see Klingons as I recall, just their ships. And this isn't a Klingon-centered episode really, so I'd say it counts.

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For full disclosure, Yesterdays Enterprise is in my all time top 5. I love this ep and highly recommend it. But within the parameters set down by the OP, it doesn't fit the request. I'm not trying to pick nits here, I'm just pointing out the fact that it was actually a very Klingon centric episode even though actual Klingons were never scene, just their ships. In the timeling created by the E-C's arrival, the Fed was about to lose a war to the Klingons that should have never started in the first place. Capt Garret was killed by a Klingon attack. I could go on, but you get the idea. The entire plot of Yesterdays Enterprise is woven around the Klingons.

I forgot to mention Reunification. As far as I remember it doesn't include Borg, Q or Klingons, and there's a really good performance from Leonard Nimoy returning as Spock.

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Another great ep. The problem is the Klingons play a very important role in Part II and they, or their ship, have plenty of screen time.

I guess my vote would have to go to Sarek. It has a little of everything. Good TOS cross over. All of the main cast gets some time, and Stewart still gets to show off his acting chops. The Perfect Mate would be a strong alternative. Normally I would put The Inner Light in contention as well, but if you are chosing just one TNG episode to watch, it might be a little too Picard centric.

"Lessons" is way up there among my favorites, and I think I may be alone in my particular appreciation of it. Anyway, I think everybody tends to rush in and quote some of the really notorious episodes like "The Defector", but some of the best Trek moments really did happen in the more quiet episodes. "Data's Day" is another one that I like.

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Lessons and Data's Day are excellent episodes, and I agree that some of the best Trek moments happened in less hyped episodes. Picard's announcement of Ensign Sito's loss and his comments about her at the end of Lower Deck's makes me cry every time, especially given her context and back story and the dressing down Picard gave her earlier in the episode.

Another wonderful moment is in Galaxy's Child on the bridge when they stumble upon the space-borne life form and data says there's nothing like it on record. They come back in the next scene and identify it as a life form. This right here is Star Trek -- new life and new civilizations - a new life form living in space -- as Picard mentions soon after, it's the reason they're out there. The build up from the moment they find this thing was so perfect. The procedures the bridge officer's followed was by the book, and they tried every thing they could to protect the ship, and avoid provoking or harming the life form...

..until the moment when I heard the computer say "Lethal Exposure in 1 minute" and Picard realized he had no choice of what to do next .. and you could tell after Picard agonized internally over his next order, even Worf didn't want to fire the phasers. That build up, that scene, and the reactions of everyone on the bridge after Data pronounced the life form dead is one of the most emotionally powerful scenes in Star Trek and that puts this episode way up there. I can't watch it without crying.

It's hard to pick a best TNG episode ever because there are so many great moments in TNG that push an episode over the top.

Dark, intense, thrilling, spectacular. Everything about this episode is perfect. The acting, the writing (some absolutely fantastic dialogue), the directing and especially the music. I could watch this episode every day.

I thought Birthright: Part 2 was a great Klingon/Worf episode. Worf has spent his whole life with humans and serves in Starfleet but he loves his heritage and has an idealized view of the Empire. Consequently, as Dax pointed out in DS9, he turns out to be the most honorable Klingon alive because he's true to the teachings of Khaless and not corrupted by Klingon politics. Worf was the perfect person to have awakened the Klingon spirit in Toq and the minute I saw Toq walk out of the building in full Klingon warrior garb, I was like "hell yeah. Qapla." Toq was a great character in this episode with him discovering and embracing his Klingon culture thanks to Worf. The scene where Worf and Toq were hunting was awesome.